Outside-In Anatomy Based Character Rigging

Michael Pratscher, Patrick Coleman, Joe Laszlo, and Karan Singh

ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation 2005

Abstract

For believable character animation, skin deformation should communicate important deformation effects due to underlying muscle movement. Anatomical models that capture these effects are typically constructed from the inside out. Internal tissue is modeled by hand and a surface skin is attached to, or generated from, the internal structure. This paper presents an outside-in approach to anatomical modeling, in which we generate musculature from a predefined structure, which we conform to an artist-sculpted skin surface. Motivated by interactive applications, we attach the musculature to an existing control skeleton and apply a novel geometric deformation model to deform the skin surface to capture important muscle motion effects. Musculoskeletal structure can be stored as a template and applied to new character models. We illustrate the methodology, as integrated into a commercial character animation system, with examples driven by both keyframe animation and recorded motion data.

• Paper (pdf)
• Video (mp4)
• Presentation (zipped ppt)

Here are some videos (avi) of our results:

Here are some videos (avi) demonstrating the deformation model:

Acknowledgements

DKP Effects provided one of the character models, as well as motion data. Alias provided the Maya animation software for research.